Road Race, Individual, Women

As the 2004 Olympics approached, women’s road cycling was in turmoil. The sponsorships of the late 80s and 90s were falling away. The women no longer raced a Tour de France Feminin and several other top female races were dropped because of lack of sponsorship. Thus the Olympics and World Championships assumed even greater importance to the female professional riders. For the first time ever at the Olympics, there was no clear favorite in 2004, partly because there were fewer international races. The once dominant Jeannie Longo, rode in her sixth Olympics in 2004, but had not won any major titles in years. The defending champion, Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel of the Netherlands, was back, but nobody could expect her to repeat her 2000 Olympic performance in which she won three events (road race, time trial, individual pursuit) and was silver medalist in the points race. A fall early in the race eliminated her from the competition. Based on earlier results, Sweden’s Susanne Ljungskog , the 2002 and 2003 World Champion was also favored for a medal, but she was dropped early and finished 33rd. The race was run thru the center of Athens, but unlike the men’s race, several groups did break away. On the final lap, the two leaders were Australia’s Sara Carrigan and Germany’s Judith Arndt. But it did not really come down to a sprint, as Carrigan broke Arndt over the last kilometer and won by seven seconds. It was somewhat of an upset as this was Carrigan’s first major international victory. Arndt was better known, having won a bronze medal in the pursuit at the 1996 Olympics, a World Championship in the pursuit in 1997, and she would win the 2004 World Championship road race.